Fabrication and characterization of (HgRe)Ba/sub 2/Ca/sub 1/Cu/sub 2/O/sub y/ thin films

Thin films of (HgRe)Ba/sub 2/Ca/sub 1/Cu/sub 2/O/sub y/ (HgRe1212) superconductor were fabricated on Ag and LaAlO/sub 3/ (LAO) by reacting laser deposited ReBaCaCuO precursor films with CaHgO/sub 2/ in sealed reaction tubes. The phase purity and superconducting properties of the final films depended significantly on the thickness of the precursor films. The minimum thickness of precursor films for complete conversion to the HgRe1212 phase was observed to be about 800 nm. The HgRe1212 films deposited and reacted under optimum conditions, on both Ag and LAO, showed excellent c-axis texture. Magnetization measurements of the as reacted superconducting films showed T/sub c/ values of 122-128 K, and exhibited open hysteresis loops up to 110 K.